Small businesses conserve energy to curb costs

updated 1:40 p.m. ET Nov. 7, 2007

NEW YORK - The lights go out at night after the last wash at Jim Whitmore's five coin laundries — no longer does he use a fully lit store as advertising. And at Todd Waldemar's Wing Zone store, he's shutting down some of the fryers during off-peak times.

Small business owners are getting pinched by the soaring prices of oil, gasoline and other fuels, eating into their profits as they gas up vehicles, heat and cool their premises and run machinery. Often, they turn to commonsense solutions to save energy and money.

For example, no longer flooding a store with light at nighttime.

"We used to use it as a way to advertise our stores — people drive by at night and would see clean stores," said Whitmore, whose laundries are in the Boston area. He said his energy costs have gone up 10 percent to 15 percent in the last year.

Small businesses have had to become creative and smarter to cut energy costs. Companies that do a lot of deliveries as part of their business — florists, for example — have been reducing the number of delivery runs they make each day. They're also using mapping software to find the shortest routes, and making sure vans and trucks are filled as much as possible to capacity.

Many that consume a lot of energy buy contracts ahead of time to get oil or natural gas at a set price. And many business owners invest in more energy-efficient machinery or switch their heating systems to wood or other alternative fuels from oil or natural gas.

Whitmore is in the process of replacing his washers and dryers, and is searching for machines that will use less energy and water, reducing his costs over the long term. He sees a side benefit of going greener: By advertising that his laundries are more environmentally friendly.

"Hopefully some of it will flow to the bottom line and help pay for the new equipment," he said.

At Ranch Rudolf, a resort in Traverse City, Mich., owner Sid Hamill has replaced most of his heating system with a wood-burning furnace. He estimates it's saving him between $10,000 and $12,000 a year in fuel costs.

Since his business is located on 195 acres of land, he cuts most of the wood he burns from his own trees.

"The wood works well for me," Hamill said, and estimated that the new heating system "basically has paid for itself."

He's still using some regular fuel, but is hoping that fairly soon he'll be able to switch the entire property to wood-burning energy.

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